Maple Leaf Academy
by Minna-sama
Summary: Just...Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

With a swift wave of my gloved hand, I set three straw dummies on fire. They moaned softly, then fell to the ground and faded away. I quickly climbed up a wooden ladder and retreated to the safety of an empty platform as I saw more dummies appearing. I pulled off my white gloves and wiped the sweat off my forehead. It was my second week at Maple Leaf Academy and I kinda enjoyed myself here. There were cool training halls and cool kids with different jobs. The only thing I hated about this place was the snobs.

I'm Hermione, a level 158 Fire/Poison mage. I've never been to a school before, let alone a huge, famous academy in the city before. I used to live in the outskirts of Ellinia with my beloved grandmother who raised and took care of me since I was a baby. My parents had died in war when I was 1. Ironically, I don't miss them. I didn't really know them at all. But it was said that my mother was a kind Bishop, loved by all the citizens of Ellinia and my father, a powerful Battle Mage who led the army during the invasion of the Black Mage.

It was only a month ago when the school sent a letter to the little cottage me and my grandmother lived in. It turned out to be an invitation to enrol at the Maple Leaf Academy…for free. No huge bomb of a payment and shit. My grandmother practically forced me to accept it. She told me it was for my future and stuff. I'm 15 and able. I didn't think I needed to even go to school. If I really wasn't, how do you suppose I reach level 158 in 5 years…without knowledge from school.

I was starting to warm up to some of the kids there and I got use to the school in a matter of days. Big problem was; I still didn't have any friends. And I was also constantly being bugged by the snobby school bullies who think they rock. People whom I refer to as poopheads in my head, knowing that if I said that out loud, I would end up being beaten up. Well, the poopheads are 5 snobby assholes: A dumb blonde girl who probably would die without her makeup, a creepy dude who smoked like…two packs of cigarettes in a day, a fat, rich man's son who wouldn't be spotted dead NOT eating, a black-haired girl with huge boobs (Okay, I don't know why I even observed that) and of course, the leader or the biggest ass of all, this dark-blue-haired guy who wedgies or teases anyone whom he passes by.

I took in deep breaths. I had been training for three whole hours without stopping now. No matter what, I was going to become a level 200 magician, just like my parents, and I will avenge them. With a cry, I leapt off the platform, clapping my hands together. The whole training hall was set ablaze along with the straw dummies. I got up from my crouching position and stood in the midst of my flames. I was actually enjoying the heat. The fire. How it felt like in a war. Suddenly, the heat died down as ice in spear-like forms shot pass me, killing my mighty flames, saving the entire hall from burning to the ground.

I spun around, angry at the person who interrupted my training. It turned out to be no other than a snob…a fucking snob who deserved to die.

"It won't help burning the-WHOA!" I swung a bolt of fire at him before he could even attempt to taunt me. Nobody would stand in my way. NOBODY. Anger boiled up inside me as I continuously and effortlessly threw flames at him. Without hesitation, he countered my attacks by throwing ice spears at me. I dodged them easily at first, but the fight grew more intense as the ice spears he threw grew larger in number.

The first thought that came into my mind was that he was a hacker. I ran towards him, a blaze of fire glowing in my right hand. He narrowed his eyes and before I took another step forward, a spear of ice pierced my right shoulder. I winced as I dropped to the ground, the flame in my hand disappearing. I glanced at my bleeding shoulder. Who knew ice could be that tough?

"Who do you think you are, interfering with my training?" I yelled at the boy. He sighed and shook his dark locks from his face. If that's how the thinks he could get girls, he could burn in hell.

"I was just stopping you from burning down the entire training hall." He reasoned as he knelt down beside me and held out a hand. I slapped his hand away, not lightly, but with all the strength I had left in my body. I admit, I was completely exhausted.

"I don't accept help from the likes of you." I glared at him, "You're a snob. Go back to your gang. Go back to your bullying and stupid antics."

I got up by myself, clutching my right shoulder. I was too full of pride to get my wound treated by the academy doctor. A thought crossed my mind. _Fire! Fire heals and closes up wounds. _Without thinking, I produced a flame from my left hand and squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the pain. The boy stared at me as if I had just grown an extra head.

I slapped my left hand against the wound on my right shoulder. I could feel the fire burning my skin. It somehow felt…soothing. The pain worsened but however, no tears were shed from my eyes. I certainly couldn't allow it.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, are you crazy?" the boy shot me an exasperated look as he grabbed my hand away from my shoulder. The flame immediately went off and I quickly shook his hand away. I looked at my wound. It worked! It was all patched up…though it left an ugly scar.

"I'm a Fire mage. This is normal to me. It probably isn't to a rich man's son like you. If this scares you, go home and cry to your daddy." I said gruffly as I trudged out of the training hall. In one half of my mind, I was thinking of how I was going to explain the damage to the headmaster, but in the other, I was wondering why that son of a bitch hadn't ruined my day with one of his silly insults yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I sat down at the best table in the entire cafeteria with my four friends. In fact, we _always _sat at the best table in the cafeteria. The other kids just didn't dare steal our table without our permission. It's almost as if it was reserved for us. I sat quietly as my friends chattered loudly.

Lizzy was busy putting on her lipstick as she gossiped about a bunch of ugly girls who creeped her out, Jack was stuffing himself with the two whole chickens he had bought, Henry was, as usual, smoking and Iris was flirting with a few guys who were walking pass. I watched them silently, slowly chewing on my sandwich.

"What's in your pretty mind, Ryan?" I snapped out of my thoughts as I felt Iris' sharp fingernails graze against my back. I quickly spun around.

"Huh-oh, n-nothing at all!" I protested before she could question further. I just hate it how she questions me every single minute of my life. Maybe it was because of the fact she had a crush on me before, and she might still do. I sighed as she pouted, placing her hands on her hips.

"That face you're giving me sure doesn't look like nothing. What's wrong?" she insisted. I was annoyed…_really_ annoyed. "It's nothing! Okay?" I finally half-yelled-half-hissed. I guessed that worked because she let out a soft 'hmph' and slowly slid down into her seat.

"Whoa, whoa, someone's having mood swings here." Henry said as puffs of grey smoke escaped from his lips. Everyone exclaimed "EWW!" in unison as he sighed. "I'm not having mood swings. I'm just fine." I muttered.

"Are you sure?" Iris piped up again, "Are you unwell? Do you need to see a doctor? Because I'll be more than happy to accompany you there." When will this girl stop? I slightly glared at her as she flipped her black curls when another bunch of guys walked pass.

I turned away from her direction, quite disgusted. Maybe my friends were right. Maybe I was having mood swings. Oh, but that's what they tell me every day. I _am _like this every day. Oh, well. I'm cool like that? My eyes scanned the entire cafeteria, hoping to find something interesting like a fight or a couple kissing. Nothing…nothing. Finally, my eyes landed on a heap of red mass.

I blinked. That girl looked familiar. She had her back turned on me while leaning against a wall. All she had on was a simple mid-thigh length red dress and a pair of black boots. _How different it was from the girls in my gang,_ I thought. She looked awfully familiar and I racked my brains to try to remember where I have met her before.

Before I could even think, I saw a well-built guy walk over to her, and probably tried flirting with her. She finally turned around to face him, giving me a good close-up on her face. It was seriously, fucking familiar. I sat back and quietly enjoyed the show I was in for. The guy seemed like he was harassing her. Yup. She was yelling now.

The guy clasped his hand around her waist. That was the last straw. I watched in awe as a flame appeared in her right hand. That probably scared the guy to bits as he quickly ran away without a word. _Eureka! _I mentally cheered in my head. She was the girl who almost destroyed an entire training hall the other day.

"Who are you looking at?" Iris demanded as I turned around, only to find her face five inches away from mine. "Nobody." I snorted. I could sense jealousy. And that wasn't good.

"Are you sure it's nobody? Does_ she_ look like nobody?" she pouted, pointing at the auburn-haired girl who had just scared the shit out of a boy. Okay, I had it. "Iris," I said as I stood up, "You're not my mother." My chair made a screeching sound as it grazed against the floor. I pushed it back under the table and walked away. Maybe a little bit of training would take my mind off these bothering business.

I walked pass the classrooms and training halls. Where should I train? Almost the whole of my mind was set on training, but a tiny bit of it wanted to see that Fire/Poison mage again. What was I thinking? Maybe I _could _if I simply trained at that place she almost burnt down to bits. That was confirmed.

I set my bag down against a wall of the training hall. I rubbed my hands together, smirking to myself and pulling my white gloves on. Us, magicians, had to wear gloves to use magic without a stupid wand or staff. I started off by piercing a few straw dummies through the head with my oh-so-famous ice spears, my best and favourite skill.

I stabbed a few dummies, and froze some others. This went on for a while until I heard the door of the hall opening. I spun around and, there she was. She stood there, frozen, for a moment. She stared at me. I stared back. It was as if we were playing some sort of staring game. Finally, her surprised stare transformed into a piercing glare.

"What," she began, "Are you doing here?"

I grinned. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do because a second after I did so, a bolt of fire came flying pass my head, barely missing a few strands of my hair.

"Does this training hall have your name on it?" I challenged.

"Ah, so I see you're trying to challenge me?" she shot back almost immediately after I finished my sentence.

"I'm just playing fair. What I said was the truth, and only the truth."

"I don't like sharing."

"Neither do I."

She finally sighed, as if admitting defeat. "I guess you're right. Although I really, really HATE sharing." She mumbled. "You have no choice." I said emotionlessly. She looked at me with a rather innocent look on her face.

"Okaaay," I tried to change the subject, hoping she wouldn't suddenly start crying or anything, "I promise I won't interfere with your training, and you don't interfere with mine. Fair?"

"Fair."

And with that, she whipped out her white gloves from her bag and pulled them on in a matter of seconds. Wow, she was really pro at this. She quickly set all of the dummies in the hall on fire, leaving none for me. I wasn't the bit annoyed. In fact, I was quite amused at this young girl's skills.

The dummies reappeared as quickly as they faded. This time, I left no chance for her to attack. I swiftly waved my hand in the air and ice arrows fell upon the dummies, killing them in an instant. She couldn't keep her cool and spun around to narrow her eyes at me.

"Stop…KSing me." She warned.

"Wasn't that what _you_ did at first?" I pointed out.

"I-ugh, that's why I hate sharing!"

"Live with it, girly." I snorted as she walked away to where her bag lay on the ground.

"Pfft."

Finally, after what seemed like a hundred aeons, I asked her,

"What's your name?"

"Hermione."

"Ryan. I'll keep that in mind."

I proceeded to continue attacking, but something made me want to turn back. I spun around. She was gone.

* * *

"Had a tough day, bro?" Henry asked in concern as he slung his arm around my shoulder. "No." I simply stated as I looked at him and sighed. Henry was quite the handsome one. He had shaggy sandy brown hair and sharp facial features. I'm just saying and I'm not gay or anything. Don't get the wrong idea.

"Oh, well." He shrugged. "Wanna hang out tonight?" I asked, out of boredom.

"Sorry, I've got a date tonight." And he was also pretty popular among the girls.

"Okay, then. I'll just go home and rot on the couch tonight."

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks."

And with a small gentlemanly bow, he walked away. His black knee-high boots made the floorboards creak under his feet. I walked away the opposite direction and headed to sword fighting lessons with Mr. Edwins.

* * *

"And this is how you hold a sword properly, you useless bastards!" the creepy-looking instructor, Mr. Edwins yelled at us. I looked left, right and centre at the boys who were surrounding me. They seemed equally displeased with Mr. Edwins as I was.

Mr. Edwins was a tanned, well-built muscly lad with a beard that made him look rather wise. I sighed. It definitely wasn't going to be an interesting lesson. I've had lost interest in sword fighting ever since my favourite instructor, Mrs Rockwell left. We've been having these silly replacement instructors ever since.

I was drowned in my own thoughts until the beardy man screamed my name. "RYAN! WHO DAHELL HERE IS RYAN?" God dammit, I wanted to stab him with my sword. Instead, I raised my hand. "Me."

"OKAY, RYAN. GO STAND OVER THERE WITH ANDY." He pointed to a skinny redhead who was practically dragging the sword on the floor behind him. He wore thick round Harry Potter-like glasses which made him look even nerdier than he actually was. And why did Mr. Edwins need to shout all the time? Did he have a disease or something?

I obediently walked over to the spot he was furiously pointing at and stood there. The nerd pushed his glasses higher up his nose with two fingers as he stared at me. I glared back. He quickly turned away and whimpered softly. _Seriously…what a sissy_.

We waited in awkward silence as our instructor screamed away at the other boys, trying to get them to stand at their fixed positions. The redhead walked up to me without warning. I was a bit shocked as well. "Do you happen to be Ryan Howie?" he asked.

_What a weird question. _"Well, yes I am. Is there anything I can help you with?" I asked and shot him one of my famous I-really-don't-give-a-shit stares. "O-oh, n-n-nothing! HI." He said, waving. _How nerdy can someone get?_ I didn't say that out loud though. It might hurt his feelings and make him cry…and Mr. Edwins would probably make me do 3 gazillion push ups as punishment.

He was giving me the creeps by acting so nervous around me. I'm not bragging or anything but, I have to admit I'm pretty _known _around here and I'm quite popular with the girls as well, just like my good ol' buddy, Henry (*trumpets sound for this moment of pride* XD).

When everything was settled, Mr. Edwins shouted, for the hundredth time, "AAAAAAAAAND… BEGIN!"

I heard swords furiously clashing with each other. I tightened my grip on my own sword and charged towards the boy. I could see that he was sweating profusely and just waited there for me to attack. I let out a small yelp as I brought my sword down upon him. He blocked my blow with his own swords and I heard the loud _Ching_ caused by the friction of the two swords.

I continued attacking fast as he kept blocking without counter-attacking. _Was he just scared or did he have some secret tactics? _I finally had his back against the wall of the hall. I slowly brought my sword up, partly because I was trying to scare him and partly because my hands were getting really tired.

He dropped his sword and blocked his head with both of his hands. I muttered something that isn't necessary for all of you to know. After a second or so, I brought my sword down on him so fast; I think he didn't even see it happening.

Instead of slicing his head into 2, my sword pierced the wall right next to his head, slicing off bits of his hair. Soft whimpers escaped from his mouth as he looked up at me, pale as ever. With a small salute, I said gruffly, "Nice try, buddy."

Mr. Edwins, who was observing us the entire match, clapped his hands together once, causing everyone to stop in their tracks. "TIME'S UP." He yelled as everyone nodded in obedience, dropping their swords. "HAVE A NICE RECESS."

I knew he had planned to make it sound nice but the way he yelled it totally changed everyone's thoughts about it. I grabbed my bag and slung it over my right shoulder. As I was about to make my way out of the door, the red-haired boy ran to catch up with me.

"Hi, R-Ryan. Can we have lunch together?" he asked. My eyebrows shot up so high, they almost disappeared under my fringe. Lunch? Totally unexpected. I hesitated for a moment, but couldn't turn down a request like that.

"Please?" he begged, "You're my idol! I _must_ have lunch with you!" Okay, shocking.

"Uh-sure. If you don't mind my friends." I finally said, knowing full well my friends would tease him like hell.

"I don't mind." He cheerfully said.

"Okay, let's go."

He followed me from behind like a puppy. This was going to be a long day.


End file.
